One Tip to Help Your Student's Mental Health in the Future-Planning Process

If you have ever experienced a loved one struggling with mental health issues, you know how heartbreaking it can be to see them go through it, and have limited expertise to help. 

Now, imagine one of your children in high school is going through this challenge while trying to plan their future moves after graduation. The combination can be overwhelming, and it is easy to see why almost 70% of teens reported struggling with their mental health to the Harris Poll. 

These kinds of numbers can be scary, especially if you are not a mental health counselor, trained to help (which I definitely AM NOT, also).

But, of course, we want to help, so what can we do?

Let’s first take a look at what is helping to cause the problem in the college planning process for students. Where are the issues coming from, and what can we control in our quest to help?

Four college planning activities that make students feel anxious

• Not knowing when they are going to hear if they got in

• Not knowing if they will be able to afford to pay for college

• Not knowing if they will get into their first-choice school

• Doing an admissions interview in person

Five college planning activities that make students feel worried

• Forgetting to submit a required form

• Not knowing if they will be able to afford to pay for college

• Not knowing if they will get into their first-choice school

• Doing an admissions interview in person

• Doing a virtual admissions interview

Looking at these lists makes me hopeful! 

These are all things that can be largely controlled for and worked around if you build a plan for the future with your children. Having a comprehensive plan that you have co-created can help make the unpredictable predictable, perceived weaknesses into real strengths, and most importantly, can take stress off you and your child.

Here are six steps to follow to create a plan:

1. Have a conversation very early on about finances. Be as realistic as possible with your student about what you can afford, and the long-term costs of student loans.

2. Try to stay out of the Dream School Trap. Students can often develop tunnel vision towards a particular school for a variety of reasons, almost none of which are based in the real world factors that will ultimately decide the best school for your family.

3. Research colleges, career programs, and gap years with the financial picture and long term goals in mind.

4. Start applying! Use a common calendar to keep track of due dates, deadlines, and meetings/events that pop up along the way. Update the calendar frequently, and 

5. Schedule family meetings to progress-monitor the application process. It is a great idea to develop a regular cadence of meetings to make sure things are getting done and that new factors are being considered.

6. Practice interviewing. This is a great time to call in your friends to help. Getting your student comfortable with the interview process and with the types of questions they will face can help them build skill and confidence heading into this part of their future.

As you can see, even just taking these six steps can proactively eliminate a lot of the sources of stress and anxiety that students are feeling as they plan for their future. Plus, you get the added bonus of really working as a team with your child, which will make them feel extra supported, and will allow you to feel like you are controlling this process, instead of the other way around.

One of the great strengths of Gen Z is how seriously they take the topic of mental health, so we have a great opportunity to help them through the future planning process with strategic planning, open communication, and the ability to stay flexible as the plan evolves over the years.